Conventional power vacuum trucks for cleaning air ducts, furnaces and the like utilize a plurality of expandable bags to collect debris removed. To that end, the rigid, closed truck roof is formed with a corresponding plurality of holes through which the bags expand upon inflation. Once deflated, the bags retreat into the truck compartment, but remain exposed to the environment in view of the plurality of holes in the truck roof. Typically a tarpaulin with grommet fasteners and hooks is used to cover the roof during transit and storage of the truck in order to protect the equipment in the truck compartment. A ratchet-type tarp roll-up mechanism can be provided to assist in rolling up the tarpaulin after vacuum operation.
These conventional power vacuum trucks require truck personnel to ascend onto the truck roof to remove the tarpaulin during job set-up, and again to replace the tarpaulin during job tear-down. This poses an obvious danger to the truck personnel, and is uneconomical in view of the time required for the set-up and tear-down operations.
In addition, conventional power vacuum trucks operate from a power take off (PTO) through a series of mechanical linkages (shafts, pillow blocks, universals, etc.) that are susceptible to breakdown and that require costly repairs and maintenance, and that require standard transmissions.
It would therefore be highly desirable to provide a power vacuum truck where the need for the operator to climb onto the roof to set-up and tear-down is eliminated, and where the mechanical linkages of the power take off operation are replaced with a more efficient and economical system.